You wait for one Steven Spielberg movie and then two come along at once! Hot on the heels of The Adventures of Tintin, the Oscar-winning director is back with the lavish War Horse, a drama based on Michael Morpurgo's novel and the subsequent stage play. Digital Spy takes an in-video look at the latest Spielberg epic...

The first clip takes place just after Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) has won a fierce auction bidding war for horse Joey. Taking him home with the intention of using him as a farming steed, Ted receives a telling-off from wife Rose (Emily Watson) and instructions to get his money back. Their son Albert (Jeremy Irvine), however, has other ideas, and vows to break the horse in so the cash-strapped family get the most out of Joey.

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Later in the film after Joey has ploughed the farm's field, Albert receives a battalion flag from his mother Rose. It's a reminder that before his father became a drunk, he fought proudly for his country in the Boer War. Albert vows to carry the flag one day return it to his dad. Joey eventually finds himself taking the cloth through the battlefields and trenches of World War I as he fights for survival.

As war breaks out across Europe, the army arrives in Albert's small village to recruit men and horses for the fight. Albert himself is too young to go to the frontlines, but Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) recognises a fine animal when he sees one and pays 30 guineas to loan Joey. In the below clips, a tearful Albert realises that he may never see his friend again.

Joey eventually finds himself separated from the British army and, after spending time with two AWOL German soldiers, is taken in by young girl Emilie (Celine Buckens) and her kind grandfather (Niels Arestrup). In our fourth and final clip, the old man talks to his granddaughter about the importance of communication during wartime and the bravery shown by carrier pigeons. "Can you imagine such a thing? There you are flying over so much pain and terror and you know you can never look down. You have to look forward or you'll never get home." he says. Someone pass us the hankies, we've got something in our eye!

War Horse opens in US cinemas on December 25 and the UK on January 13, 2012.